Trump’s Travel Ban Saved Lives - Dems Wouldn’t Have Done Any Better

As the coronavirus pandemic swept its way from China to Europe to the United States, world leaders have shown their true colors with their responses to the virus. Despite the controversy surrounding President Trump’s handling of the situation, his strong leadership and decisive decision-making has saved countless lives. One of the biggest actions that illustrate this is his travel ban on China.

Starting in February, the Trump Administration put a travel ban in place that would deny entry to any foreign national who had been in China during the two weeks prior. Making this decision helped to drastically reduce the number of visitors from China--the virus originating from the country’s Wuhan province--and slow the spread in the U.S.

This was an incredibly tough decision for the commander-in-chief and one that went against the recommendations of many academics who thought the ban was unnecessary and unfair to foreigners. It was also a decision that most likely would not have been made if one of the current Democratic presidential candidates, Joe Biden of Bernie Sanders, were in charge.

The President Defied the Academics 

Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli told congress in March that President Trump issued the order to shut down travelers from the COVID-19 infected country even though it went directly against “the academic models”. Even though this decision helped slow the spread in the U.S., Democrats in congress lectured Cuccinelli and the President for not adhering to these academic models, no matter how off-base they were in reality.

One democratic congresswoman went so far as to scold the administration for making this decision in the face of the models saying it was “bad politics as opposed to good science”. She continued by stating her belief that “this administration has very little respect for anything intellectual”. Although this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, it’s evident that many Dems confused “theory” with “reality” in the name of academic justification.

The problem with this position is that blindly adhering to science for the sake of science and ignoring all other conditions--i.e. the probabilistic decisions and risks you have to take in light of the unknown (and this includes academic models)--is a terrible way to exercise leadership. President Trump knows this and made his life-saving decision based on this. 

The President went even further, subsequently placing travel bans aimed at other coronavirus hotspots such as Iran, Italy, and other EU countries. President Trump justified this by saying these countries had refused to make these life-saving decisions and therefore, had to be put on the no-fly list.

As President Trump said himself, these decisions were not anti-intellectual, anti-immigrant, or even anti-Democrat. They were pragmatic. They were the right decisions that needed to be made “to protect the health and well-being of all Americans”.

Dems Brag About Not Making the Right Decision

It is not just a theory that the Democratic presidential candidates would not have made this crucial decision that has slowed the spread and kept the number of deaths much lower than they could have been. In their own words, Biden and Sanders have actually touted the fact they would not have made this all-important decision.

Former Vice President Biden took to social media to announce that, in his view, “A wall will not stop the coronavirus. Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it.” He went even further in interviews calling the President names and saying he practices “hysteria”, “xenophobia”, “hysterical xenophobia”, and “fear-mongering”.

While, unsurprisingly, Biden wouldn’t answer the question directly about what exactly he would have done to limit foreign travel to reduce the spread of the pandemic Biden has strongly suggested they would not have taken these necessary precautions. His opponent Bernie Sanders has flat out said that.

Come November, the coronavirus will hopefully be just a memory and Americans will head to the polls to choose a leader for the next 4 years. Hopefully, Americans will remember how this crisis was dealt with in a decisive way, a way that puts Americans first, and a way that saved so many lives.